Youth Ministry Lessons

I think that I have probably heard all types of youth ministry lessons in my past 6 years of working with youth. I would have to say that most agree that lessons are an important part of youth ministry. Usually in most youth ministries I know of they have some sort of youth ministry lesson or talk from a leader at some point of the gathering. I also believe that it’s very Biblical to have some type of lesson because we see Jesus teaching people all the time while he was here (and he only ministered publicly for 3 years).

Doug Fields says that most students, no matter how good you are at lessons, won’t recall a lesson that you did when they attended youth group during their middle and high school years. He says that they are most likely going to remember the relationships and stuff that they did together. If I think back to my youth group days, I too remember funny games and events that I did together with others, however,  I’t’s been said that people don’t always remember what they ate the past week, but they know that their body was nourished and it physically keeps them alive. We know that the same thing is true spiritually. People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God - Matt 4:4. I’m not bashing Doug - I know that he believes in good lessons as he sells many.

Here is a formula that I have used to help me when preparing for a lesson to students:

Hook - Book - Look - Took

Hook: People while gathered around with other people need to be focused. The hook is usually something that you do to get people tied into your message. Some speakers use a story, drama, or video clip to begin their messages because they know that it focuses their attention and if done correctly, it prepares them for the rest of the message.

Book: While you have their attention - take them to the book (Bible). We all have those moments where we have shared a video clip, drama, or story and afterwards we see how cued in everyone is. You litterally can say anything to them and they are going to hear it. There’s nothing better that you can share than the word!

Look: After sharing the word, take some time to explain it. Your job is to help your students to understand what you just read or recited. Connect the words to a modern day example. This will help them take in the significance of what the Bible passage is saying to them.

Took: This is the part that is called application. Don’t just do a great talk with out challenging students to make it real in their lives. Come up with some practical ways they can actually do something to make a change or difference. This is important because students can see how the Bible then becomes a reality.

If you have a small group, part of your time could be following up with students to see if they did indeed apply anything from the message. This will help them process the message even further and you may even get some great stories out of it!

Please feel free to leave a comment on some other ways to prepare youth ministry lessons, I would love to hear them.